Roofing



(N0 Modem 0. H. STARR.

' ROOFING.

Patented June 23. 1885.

INVENTOR L yffijwa BY ATTORNEYS.

WITNESSES ,A /& {96 6901 6? N. PETERS. Phnl NllTED STATES PATENT O-rrrcri.

CHARLES H. srARn, or LOGANSPORT, INDIANA.

ROOFING.

SZPECEPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 320,503, dated June 23, 1885.

Application filed July 29, 1884. (No model.) I

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that I, CHARLES HAYWARD STARR, of Logansport, in the county of Cass and State of Indiana, have invented a new and Improved Roofing, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to roofing for railwaycars or other structures, and has for its object to provide an inexpensive, durable, and tight roof, which may easily be laid or repaired, and may have free expansion and contraction as the temperature changes without impairing its water-tight qualities.

The invention consists in an arrangement of gutters in spaces between the roof-boards, and of roofing-plates spanning the roof-boards between the spaces, and having downturned flanges entering the gutters, together with capplates spanning the gutters and overlapping the roofing-plates.

The invention consists, also, in particular constructions of the cap-plates and their fastenings, and in other details of construction and combinations ,,of parts of the roofing, all as hereinafter fully described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the upper part of a railway-ear with my improved roofing applied, and partly broken away. Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional View through the roof and taken on the line a: :0, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a central longitudinal sectional elevation of one of the joint caps or plates, and Fig. 4 is an under side view of one of the joint-caps.

The drawings represent my improved roofing as applied to a railway-car, for which use it is especially adapted, and I will particularly describe the roofing in this connection; but the roofing may advantageously be applied to buildings or structures of any kind exposed to the weather.

The roof of the car, as shown, is composed of the two layers of sheathingboards A B, which may be made fast to the car or structure in any way. In laying the upper sheathing-boards, A, I leave spaces a, about one inch 0 in width,between the edges of adjacent boards,

making such spaces (0 preferably at distances apart of about twenty-three inches, so that the upper roofingplates, O, of about twenty-four inches in width, may span the roof between two spaces a, and turn down for about one half an inch by opposite side flanges, c 0, into sheet-metal gutters or pockets D.

The gutters D are formed by bending suit able plates of sheet metal or other water-proof flexible material so as to form a central lengthwise depression or gutter and to leave opposite side flanges, d d, through which nailsb may be driven into the roof to hold the gutters D in place in the spaces a. The bottoms of the gutters may have the round form shown in the drawings, or may be made in square or polygonal form, as desired. After the gutters D are secured in the spaces a, the roofing sheets or plates 0, which may be made of any suitable material, are laid on the roof-boards, with their side flanges, c c, entering the gutters D.

The letter E indicates the joint caps or plates of the roofing, which I shape from suit able metal plates or bars by a rolling, press ing, or any other approved process, so as to curve upward from the center toward both ends, as.in Fig. 3. On the cap E, I provide a turned-down tongue, F, which may be a sep" arate piece attached to the under side of the cap at about its center both ways, or may be produced by pressing it down from the body of the cap, as shown in the drawings, and I prefer to make the cap with the two longitudinal ribs 6 e, which enter the pocket D, and serve as stiffeners to the cap and allow it to be made quite thin at the side edges which lap upon the roofing-plates O, and thus cause very little projection of the'caps above the general surface of the roofing-plates, and give the entire roof a neater appearance.

The outer ends of the caps E are turned downward and inward, and are made in a forked shape, with two arms or side parts, a e, to provide a space, f, between them, through which water which may by chance enter and flow down the pockets or gutters D may freely escape at the eaves of the roof.

The letter G indicates a staple or fastening which has a bent or arched form, and is provided with the upturned pointed ends 9 g,

which are driven through the side walls of the gutter D into the roof boards at the sides of the spaces a, andin such positions that the head portion or crossbar g of the fastening may be engaged underneath by the tongue F of the cap E when the side edges or flanges of the cap lie flat upon the roofing-plates. Where the ends ofthe fastening G pass through the gutter D, I will solder them to the gutter to leave the gutter water-tight. The upturned ends 9 g of the fastening G, by hooking into the roof-boards A, offer the necessary resistance to prevent stripping of the cap-plates from the roof by the wind.

After the pockets D and roofing-plates C have been laid on the roof-boards A, as above described, the running or tread board H, which has already been fitted to the peak of the roof and cut to receive the ends of the caps E, will be secured to the car-roof by screws passed upward from the inside of the car, and the inner ends of the curved caps E then will be passed beneath and into the notches of the running-board, and will be pressed down fiat and close on the roofing-plates O for their whole length and over the gutters D, the tongues F of the caps being passed beneath the heads of the fastenings G, and when the outer ends of the caps are brought down flat the caps will be driven upward, so that the inturned ends 6 e of the forked ends of the caps will come beneath the overhanging edges or eaves of the car-roof, or beneath the boards B, to which the cleats will be fastened by nails or screws driven through holes 15 i in the ends 6 6 up into the roof-boards.

It will be seen that the entire roofing is free from punctures of any kind through which water may pass; hence the roofing is tight. It will also be seen that the spaces a allow the roof-boards or sheathing and the roofing-plates and caps which cover them to havefree expansion and contraction by changes in tem perature without injury to the roofing or impairment of its tightness; and old roofs may readily be covered with my improved roofing by forming the spaces 64 therein, thus allowing most of the old roof-boards to be used again, and a damaged roofing-plate C may at any time be removed and a new one substituted without disturbing any of the other plates, and requiring only the drawing and driving of a few tacks, nails, or screws at t in the eaves.

In applying my improved roofing to house and other roofs where a running or tread board H is not required, I will bend the gutters D, roofing-plates O, and caps E over the ridge of the roof, which will have the spaces a substantially as above described, and the successive courses of the roofing will overlap each other down the roof, as will be readily understood.

My improved roofing may, of course, be applied with equal facility and success to roofs having but one layer or course of sheathing or roof-boards, and may also be applied to roofs having longitudinal sheathing by fastening latitudinal strips of wood on the sheathing at suitable distances to form the spaces a, and bending plates 0 to fit the strips.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is r 1. As an improvement in roofing, gutters D, secured in spaces a between the roof-boards A, and roofing-plates O, spanning the roof boards between the gutters and having downturned flanges ccentering the gutters, and capplates E, held over the gutters on the roofingplates, substantially as shown and described.

2. The combination, with the roof-boards A, spaced at a, the gutters D, held in the spaces a, and the roofing-plates O, spanning the roof-boards between the gutters and having flanges 0 c entering the gutters, of the capplates E, having tongues F, and the fastenings G, held in the gutters and engaged by the tongues, substantially as shown and described.

3. The combination, with the roof-boards A, spaced at a, of the gutters D, held in the spaces and having flanges d d resting on the rootboards, and the roofing-plates C, spanning the roof-boards between the spaces a, overlapping the flanges d d of the gutters, and having flanges 0 c entering the gutters, and the capsIE, held to the plates 0 over the gutters, substantially as shown and described.

4. The combination, with the roof-boards A, spaced at a, the gutter D, and the roofingplates 0, of the cap-plate E, having its outer end forked to form a space, f, for discharge of water from the gutters, substantially as shown and described.

5. The combination, with the roof-boards A, spaced at a, the gutter D, and the roofingplates 0, of the cap-plate E, having its outer end forked to arms form 6' e, probiding a space, f, as specified, and also having inturned ends 6" 6', through which the fastening nails or screws may be passed upward into the roof-boards, substantially as shown and described.

6. The cap-plate E, made with a tongue, F, adapted to enter a staple fastening fixed in the gutter, substantially as shown and described.

7 As a new and improved article of manufacture, the cap-plate E, made with a tongue, F, and forked outer end, ee, having inturned flanges e e", substantially as shown and described.

8. As a new and improved article of manufacture, the cap-plate E, made in a concavoconvex form longitudinally in its body portion, substantially as shown and described.

9. As a new and improved article of manufacture, the eapplate E, made in concavoconveX form longitudinally in its body portion, and with a tongue, F, and forked outer end, e 6, having inturned flanges e 6 substantially as shown and described.

10. As a new and improved article of manufacture, the fastening G, made with a cross bar or head, adapted to be engaged by the tongue of the cap-plate, and with upturned pointed ends g g, substantially as shown and A, spaced at a, of the gutters D, held in the described. spaces, the roofing-plates O, the caps E, hav- 11. The combination, with the roof-boards ing forked outer ends provided with inturned A, gutters D, roofingplates O, and cap-plate flanges e e, to hook under the eaves of the 5 E, having" a tongue, F, of the fastening G, roof, and the running'board H, substantially 15 having a head, 9, and the upturned ends 99, as shown and described.

hooking into the boardsA, to resist lifting of CHARLES H. STARR. the cap-plates, substantially as shown and de- Witnesses: scribed. NELsoN A. IRVINE,

1o 12. The combination, with the roofiboards CHARLES J. KLINCK. 

